Page 80 of Beau

News had spread fast that Manny Marceaux was dead. The press arrived, and the marina became a circus.

Beau and Aurelie gave their statements and contact information and caught a ride with a deputy to the cottage where the night had begun.

Lady entered the house, went straight for her food dish, ate two bites, and lay on the floor beside it.

Beau checked the doggy door she’d managed to open and pushed the trash can in front of it in case she tried to leave in the middle of the night.

When he returned to the living room, Aurelie took his hand, led him into the bathroom and turned on the shower. They peeled off their damp clothing and stepped beneath the spray.

Beau wrapped his arms around Aurelie.

She wrapped her arms around his waist.

They stood in each other’s arms for a long time.

“Thank you,” Beau whispered.

She shook her head without looking up. “For what?”

“For not dying,” he said. “For being the badass you are.”

“Thank you for saving me again and for saving Lady.”

“There was no other option,” he said. “You saved me and gave me a reason to live. Hope for a future. One I want to spend with you.”

Her arms tightened around his waist. “Is it possible to fall in love in such a short time?” she whispered. “Because this feels like it.”

“I feel like we’ve been together for a lifetime with all that’s happened,” he said. “For so long, I didn’t know what I wanted. Now, I do. I want you. I want a family. I want to tear out that wall and make this an open-concept living space.” He leaned back and tipped her chin up. “Am I scaring you?”

Aurelie laughed. “No, you’re making me so happy I can’t form words sufficient to express myself.” She smiled up at him. “But who needs words when there’s always body language?”

Beau claimed her lips and then her body, finally having found his way home.

EPILOGUE

“Beau! Beau!” Aurelie stood on the porch of the Old Pearson House she and Beau had purchased together in Bayou Mambaloa. They’d spent their free time over the past two months remodeling. They still had a lot to do, but just opening up the wall between the living room and kitchen had made it feel like a completely different home.

She’d been helping her father with his re-election campaign, with only six more weeks until the election.

When news broke that he had only withdrawn from the race to save his daughter, his polling numbers had skyrocketed, and people campaigned for him to re-enter the race.

Aurelie’s testimony to the state police and the EPA helped launch a full investigation into corporations suspected of having ties with the Cajun mafia.

Without Manny Marceaux’s leadership, his organization had fractured and weakened, unfortunately spawning gang violence in New Orleans between the warring splinters of what once had been a single organization.

Although it wasn’t in Aurelie’s nature to wish ill on anyone, she was glad Marceaux and his two hitmen had died in the boat wreck. She didn’t feel like she had to keep looking over her shoulder for the next attack.

Jason Gousman dropped out of the senatorial race. Though he was cleared of attempted murder charges, his connection with Marceaux blackballed him with any political organization or major corporations. The last Aurelie heard, he’d moved to Alaska and had gone to work as a night manager for a hotel in Fairbanks.

After dating for two weeks following all the drama, Beau had met with Aurelie’s father and asked his permission to marry his daughter.

Her father had told him he’d have to ask Aurelie. She had a mind of her own. They grilled steaks, drank beer and found common ground in their love of fishing.

Aurelie converted her house in Bayou Miste into a vacation rental, not wanting to sever ties with the community she’d just started to love. Beau would make sure that wouldn’t happen. They spent time with his cousins at the Raccoon Saloon and had dinner with his aunt and fifteen of her nineteen children.

Lady bounced back from her time as a stray by eating so much she’d turned into a roly-poly chunk. She’d been fine up until that morning.

Aurelie had woken up early, her stomach upset and queasy. She’d blamed it on the cupcake she’d eaten too late the night before. As the morning wore on, her stomach settled, and she worked on moving things out of the guest bedroom. It was the next room they’d paint in their quest to paint every wall in the house.